Narrow escape for flying crew

Three Televonic technicians and a helicopter pilot, experienced a very narrow escape as the Bell Jet-Ranger they travelled in was blown over the edge of a mountain in the Swartwater area last Friday.
The technicians had already carried out routine maintenance and repairs to the radio tower situated on top of Blouberg mountain earlier that same morning. From Blouberg they moved on to repair the repeater on the Swartwater radio tower. Their pilot had just set the aircraft down on the top of the mountain, when a strong wind picked up the helicopter and flipped it backward over the edge of the mountain.
With the occupants still strapped in, the helicopter rolled several meters down the mountainside, where two young trees prevented it from tumbling over the edge of the cliff.
Apart from a couple of broken ribs, cuts and abrasions, no one was seriously injured. Despite this traumatic experience and injury, the dedicated technicians climbed back up to the tower on top of the mountain and repaired the damaged repeater before summoning help.
With the repeater repaired, the pilot and the three tecnicians had to climb all the way down the mountain, which is inaccesible to vehicles, where members of the local community waited for them.
Televonic would like to express their gratitude toward Willem van Dyk, group leader of the Voortrekker Safety sector (Maasstroom) for his assistance and support with regards to this incident.